(One reason why I dislike the terms like "professional software $something" or "industry standard" is because while they connote quality, they're defined by "as done by people who are paid to do this" and "the popular thing among people who get paid for this work", respectively. The two viewpoints - quality vs. what professionals do - are almost completely opposite in practice, given the shit show our industry is.)
Also, they use it not because they know that it saves them time, but because they're afraid other HN people like you will shame them if they don't.
That aside, I often think and read about the Toyota Production System, and notice how the industry I work in, structural steel fabrication and erection, a subset of the construction industry, has a tenancy to me nothing like it.
It’s interesting that software production has similar failings. Just recently another building in Sydney suffered serious structural faults[1]; the 737 Max is a disaster; the MacBook Pro keyboard is an unmitigated dumpster fire that, let’s be serious, got Jony Ive sacked; Tesla and Musk are pathologically deceptive.
I’m beginning to think we’ve lost the ability to build anything of genuine quality.
In my opinion we have reached and passed Peak Design and Manufacturing.
I could be wrong. What genuinely quality and durable things do humans make?
You couldn't be more wrong. The word sets the tone and frame for the entire comment. It is, in fact, the most important word of the whole comment.
> In my opinion we have reached and passed Peak Design and Manufacturing.
The second+ generation of any product is often worse in many respects, because the companies figure out which corners they can cut without losing the customer.
> What genuinely quality and durable things do humans make?
Humans don't really care much for durability, perhaps because they're not durable themselves.